Having worked with some of the biggest urban artists in the UK over the years including Wiley, Ghetts and Griminal and with the video for her brand new carnival anthem ‘Champion’ about to drop, Matt Tarr caught up with one of the UK’s brightest stars, Princess Nyah to discuss her new track, how her sound has developed over the years and how she survives being an independent artist.
MT: With the upcoming release of your latest track ‘Champion’, I feel as though the sound of your music has come full circle since you released tracks such as ‘Soldier’, ‘Frontline’ and ‘Heartbeat’. Is that something you would agree with?
Princess Nyah: Yeah I definitely think your interpretation is spot on. I feel like I’ve been on a musical journey and when you first get a buzz off your music it’s because you were doing one thing but then after that you get a little bit of pressure from different people that say ‘you should do this’ or ‘you should do that or ‘to get a number one you should fit in with these people’ and then you kind of lose your way. I feel like for a period of time I was in a very foggy place which heavily confused me and really demotivated me, to be totally honest. I feel like with this particular project, ‘Heartbeat’ was for me to get some things off my chest and ‘Champion’ is full circle, I’m back, I’m me and I’m doing what I wanna do. I think you’re actually the first person to even clock onto that so well done to you!
MT: Thanks! Having been familiar with your stuff for a few years I can definitely see the progress you’ve made and it’s really good to hear. With the track ‘Champion’, how did it all come about?
Princess Nyah: Well 2012 was the last time I’d released some stuff and I was in the studio but I was really struggling and I felt like I’d hit a ceiling. I felt very drained and jut under a lot of pressure to do what was on the radio rather than just doing what I’d enjoy. I was following a lady called Angela Hunt who is a songwriter who wrote ‘Empire State of Mind’ for Jay Z and has worked with Magnetic Man, Ms Dynamite, Misteeq, Miley Cyrus, you name it and she’s worked with them and I never thought I’d get the opportunity to meet her as she lives in New York. Low and behold I did actually get the opportunity and just kept in touch with her and when I felt I’d hit my ceiling I reached out to her and she said that she loved my passion and drive; I run a business [Binghi’s Boutique] at the same time as doing music and I think she was really inspired by that because she doesn’t really meet a lot of people who are trying to make music all on their own and run a business which was good for me. She said “come to New York and we’ll work together on some stuff”. At the time I was kind of at the tail end of my buzz, shows were a bit slow so I went and stayed with her and her husband and was a million percent inspired. ‘Champion’ is a story about overcoming all of your hurdles, using your learning curves to learn, not having any regrets and just being a champion of whatever it is you want to be in life.
MT: What do you think has influenced your sound coming full circle? The journey you’ve been on through life? Listening to other people’s music?
Princess Nyah: I think it’s probably a lot to do with my heart. I go with what I feel is best and when I did my funky house project I was immersed in funky. I was listening to funky house 3 years prior to ‘Frontline’. I feel like it really worked because it was me, funky house was a part of me, it still is. I love funky house! I think that when you remove yourself from the music it’s really harder to create something that sounds of value because you’re not in it anymore. I think that gap where I wasn’t in it I was just performing, performing, performing and not really listening to anything; you kind of lose your way whereas over the last year I’ve had time to listen to albums, I’ve had time to go out and to just listen to music as a whole. I love that trap sound and that’s what drew me to ‘Champion’ because it was kind of a bit bassy and had a Jamaican vibe to it and I love all of that; I love bashment so I can mess with this.
MT: Following on from ‘Champion’ will we be hearing an album or an EP from you anytime soon?
Princess Nyah: I don’t wanna tie myself down to an album with the only reason being that because of the times, it’s really difficult to release an album when you don’t have a sufficient fan-base to fund your album and buy it. I haven’t pressured myself into doing an album but I have got enough tracks for an album if I needed to put one out so I just wanna release some singles and I’ve got four lined up and ready to go. I’ve already shot two videos so I feel like I’ve got a few tools, my gun’s kinda loaded so I’m just gonna fire it and see and try and hit the target.
MT: Do you feel that being an independent artist and being able to have control of the creative side of your music has helped you push on?
Princess Nyah: I did a cover of Tinie Tempah’s ‘Miami to Ibiza’ and there’s a line that I say in there “I’m ink free, it would take a really big deal if you wanna sign me” or something like that and the reason being is you lose so much when you’re signed. You lose control, you lose a part of your identity, and you can’t do what you want to do when you want to do it. You can’t put out the songs you want to put out when you want to because you’re kind of delivering music to people that aren’t from your world. They want to do what’s good for their world but that might not be good for you so I think label situations and deals make sense for some artists but for me, personally, I just wanna share my music with the world. I really hope I’m going to do it in the style of a label so we can do it effectively but at the same time I want to give my fans a bit of me and if that’s one fan, five fans or a thousand fans, to me it doesn’t really matter, it’s just about being honest with their music. I don’t think labels want that; they want hits. They want that top 5 and if you don’t get that top 5 then see ya! They don’t even want to hear the rest of your music you’re working on and that’s scary.
MT: Something else that has made the headlines a lot recently is crowd funding. I don’t know if that’s something you would consider doing?
Princess Nyah: It’s something I’ve discussed with my team; I want to do it but it needs to be done in the right way. I would consider doing it because I think that if the people fund you, you’re already winning, because they already want you to win so it’s definitely something I’d consider. I think there’s one called Kickstarter which is quite cool but there’s lots of terms and conditions and stuff. It’s something I would recommend to up and coming artists as it’s a cool way to get a bit of funding in because the music business is not a cheap hobby.
MT: So in terms of live stuff, is there anything we can expect to see from you over the summer?
Princess Nyah: Yeah, I’m going to be doing an event called ‘A Night with Princess’ which is going to just be me headlining and doing some stuff for a really intimate crowd and we haven’t got a date but you will be definitely invited! Then I’m going to be performing at the Troxy on 26th July. I’m just working on securing all my live stuff the moment. I’m hoping to do a school tour and a club tour; everything is just to be confirmed at the moment. That was my biggest thing for 2014, I just wanted to do a lot of touring because that’s the thing I love the most so that’s definitely the aim.
To keep up to date with everything from the supremely talented Princess Nyah, follow @PRINCESSNYAH on Twitter or sign up to the mailing list on www.princessnyah.com.
Matt Tarr
@MattTarrJourno
Matt Tarr
Latest posts by Matt Tarr (see all)
- WATCH: Gigslutz Spotlight presents… Jammin - July 21, 2016
- PREMIERE: Drey Cheekz teams up with SNE for ‘New Girl’ - June 24, 2016
- LISTEN: Chase & Status unveil new track ‘Spoken Word’ featuring George The Poet - June 20, 2016
